The great and mighty Siberian husky, Banshee, defended the family from a giant polar bear this morning. Well, not so much “defended” as “cowered in front of” and not so much “polar bear” as “painted sheep statue.” But, it was a great adventure regardless.

After the Sheeptacular in October 2007, many of these decorated sheep appeared around town:

One of them was on our walking path this morning. The dogs were pretty sure it was a giant monster that was going to eat them.

Matt used to take Maynard, a beagle/lab/???? mix with him, places. He was at a campground one day, and walked by the little convenience store. This place was gussied up to look like an old-time general store, complete with wooden indian.

Maynard took one look and stopped dead in his tracks, aghast. This was unlike anything he had seen in his young life. Obviously, it was dangerous. So Maynard actually did protect Matt, laying his life on the line, standing between Matt and certain death, and barking loudly in hopes of scaring off this evil creature. Matt was a bit slow (aren't they always?), but eventually was able to escape, thanks to Maynard's heroism.